IMPLEMENTACIÓN

8-10.

Canada, Royal Commission on Government Organization, Report, vol. 1 (Ottawa, ON: Queen’s Printer, 1963): p. 10. (Hereafter referred to as Canada, Royal Commission on Government Organization, Report.)

Consultant with Urwick, Currie Limited, a Toronto-based firm o f management consultants. Special mention was made in the final report o f assistance and advice received from Herbert Hoover, former President o f the United States and Chairman o f the Hoover Commissions, the industry analyst Peter Drucker, later the author o f several major works on government organisation, and several American and British senior government advisers.

Four project members were substantially responsible for the research into archives, libraries, and public records. They were John H. Archer, Legislative Librarian and Public Archivist, Government o f Saskatchewan; Willard Ernest Ireland, Provincial Librarian and Archivist o f British Columbia; Paul A. Kohl, o f the General Services Administration o f the United States Government; and Colonel Charles Perry Stacey, University o f Toronto, who had participated deeply in the research o f the Massey Commission ten years earlier. Wayne C. Grover, Archivist o f the United States, and Everett O. Alldredge, Assistant Archivist o f the United States, both served as consultants to the project. The Commission reported to a seven-member advisory committee, which included the Dominion Archivist, W. Kaye Lamb.

The Need fo r Government Reform

The Glassco Commission’s final report was published in five volumes.^^ In its report, the Commission described in detail the vast expansion o f government in the twentieth century. This expansion was, in fact, one o f the reasons such a sweeping study was so essential. The civil service had increased nine-fold in less than fifty years, firom 24,000 officers in 1913-14 to 216,000 in 1960. In that time, the nation’s population had

Volume 1 concerned Management o f the Public Service and discussed management planning and

financial, personnel, and paperwork and systems management issues. Volumes 2 and 3,

Supporting Services fo r Government examined property management, purchasing and supplies, transportation and telecommunications, printing and publishing, contracting, legal services, economic and statistical services, and mechanisms for public information. Volume 3 also discussed Services for the Public, such as education, health, insurance, and postal services. Volume 4 analysed Special Areas o f Administration. These includes the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the Department o f National Defence, the Department o f External Affairs, Northern Affairs, and Scientific Research and Development. Volume 5, the final volume, addressed the organisation o f the federal government.

grown only two and one half times. The Commission argued that ‘war, the threat o f war and the aftermath o f war have caused nearly forty per cent o f the increase in personnel since 1939.’ Government spending had multiplied twelve times from 1939 to 1961. And government was not just growing bigger; it was becoming vastly more complex, with the addition o f new and expanded social welfare programmes. The Canadian government had accepted a wider role not just in culture and the arts, but also in the provision o f social, medical, welfare, and employment programmes.'^

With the growth o f society, and the expansion o f government’s responsibility for that society, the government’s administrative procedures were growing ever more complicated. After the Second World War, departments diversified their tasks and acquired more responsibility for decision making, sometimes overlapping with each other. Technology helped to improve communications in these areas, but the Commission expressed concern about the new ‘data processing centres’ which were expected to serve the government with ‘increasing versatility.’ The Commission also recognised that employer-employee relations were being affected by the changing employment environment. The public service now had to recognise stronger union control, more complex industrial relations, expanding social security programmes, and increasingly sophisticated job descriptions.'^^

Throughout its report, the Glassco Commission argued that the best mechanism for accommodating administrative change in government would be through improved management o f the public service. Departmental responsibilities needed to be formalised. Traditionally independent agencies needed centralised guidance and support. More important, senior administrators needed to have a ‘strong sense o f purpose and a clear grasp o f their responsibilities.’ Administration o f the public service would be monitored by a system o f checks and balances, to ensure integrity, accountability, and efficiency.'^^

Ibid., vol. 1, pp. 34-37. Ibid., pp. 45-46.

Critical to improved public administration was the management o f the government’s paperwork. The Commission was concerned about the danger o f superfluous information ‘clogging the channels o f communication and wasting public funds.’ The Commission was ‘highly critical’ o f existing paperwork systems, declaring that improvements would be ‘challenging in the extreme.’ It suggested that ‘because no one has clear responsibility for this aspect o f management, there is an appalling lack o f understanding o f present deficiencies and a general lack o f concern about the money wastage.’ It was also critical o f ‘empire-building’ vrithin government departments and o f the chronic inattention to procedures or systems.^"^

Records and Archives Management

The Glassco Commission devoted considerable space in its report to office systems and records m a n a g e m e n t . I t found that one-twelfth o f the government’s budget was devoted to managing paper. Over 2,500,000 cubic feet o f records were stored on government premises, vrith another 250,000 cubic feet added each year. The need to preserve records had produced a ‘cumulative pressure’ on existing systems and facilities. The Commission argued for an end to the ‘haphazard control’ o f government records. It expressed a clear vision o f the nature o f records, a vision not in keeping with the traditional focus o f Canadian archival repositories.

Records have a life cycle. They are conceived, brought into the world, live a more or less purposeful life in active files, tend to reproduce themselves, and in old age are decently cared for in dormant storage. When they have no further purpose to serve, they are cremated."*^

47 Ibid., pp. 481-82.

48 Paul Kohl, C.P. Stacey, Wayne C. Grover, and John Archer analysed the work o f the Public

Archives, completing their report in November 1961. Kohl also investigated the organisation and management o f the Public Records Centre and government microfilming practices, and he and Archer studied the organisation and services o f the National Library. Willard Ireland, the provincial archivist in British Columbia, seems to have participated heavily in the writing of

various of the reports. Canada, Royal Commission on Government Organi2ation, Assignment

Sheets, NAC, RG 33/46, vol. 94, file 64. For a report by Ireland see for example W.E. Ireland, ‘Archives,’ Report No. 1, Project No. 3, ibid., vol. 151, File: 51.

To manage records through this life cycle required an ‘aggressive and positive approach’ to the development o f new and better methods. A savings o f $50 million could be gained from improved paperwork management, which would also promote increased effectiveness and better morale among civil servants. The Commission was critical o f the mismanagement o f information systems. Reports were wasteful; ‘far too often,’ the Commission criticised, ‘a report is made simply to report that there is nothing to report.’ Directives, manuals, and instructions were uncoordinated, leading to repetition in some areas and insufficient information in others. In one department, ten separate indexes were used to help identify records, and searches sometimes took up to three days. Over $5 million could be saved just by simplifying mail and filing systems, and a more efficient system for producing and using forms could save over $10 million. To address these deficiencies, the Commission advocated the development o f a comprehensive plan for the management o f public information.^^

The Role o f the Public Archives o f Canada

The Commission saw a critical role for the Public Archives in the improvement o f information systems. Sound policies and practices were essential, and the Public Archives responsibility for these ‘must be paramount.’ The Archives must have control over all aspects o f the preservation o f and access to records, to ensure security and confidentiality. But before it could take this responsibility, the Archives must improve the management o f the government records in its custody.

Discussing the inadequate management o f public records, the Commission cited the example o f the Public Archives Records Centre, an interim records storage facility opened at Tunney’s Pasture, Ottawa, in April 1956. The Centre was popular with government and appeared to mark the transformation o f the Public Archives into the long- awaited public record o f f i c e . ^ ^ But while the Commission agreed that the Centre was

50 Ibid., pp. 482-92.

51 Ibid., pp. 571-72.

52 The establishment of the Centre is discussed in W.G. Ormsby, ‘The Public Archives of Canada,

essential to good records management, it lamented that the facility was already completely full. Worse, existing records disposition schedules were out o f date, and many records personnel were inadequately trained. It was essential for the Records Centre to establish adequate systems and to educate departments o f its existence, in order to overcome the deficiencies in its management and to conquer ‘departmental i n e r t i a .

The Commission outlined its vision o f the Records Centre’s appropriate administrative responsibilities. These were:

To help departments schedule their current records systematically, transfer dormant records to the Records Centre, destroy worthless records, and transmit records o f historical value to the Manuscript Division o f the Public Archives.

To arrange for the destruction o f records which have neither historic value nor continuing value to the department creating the record ....

To ensure the preservation o f records which have either a continuing interest to the department or a future historical value to the Public Archives.

The Commission also called for the expansion o f regional records centres across the country to service the sixty percent o f government records not housed in Ottawa.

While the Glassco Commission urged improved efficiency in public records management, it did not renounce the Archives’ responsibility for private records acquisition. Indeed, the Commission acknowledged that the repository’s holdings were rich and varied and its expansive acquisition mandate had served Canadian society well.

The materials contained in the Public Archives are not all strictly archival and some o f the functions still performed are not normally associated with archives. Nevertheless, Canada is immeasurably the richer for the effort made to preserve our heritage, particularly during the period when no other appropriate national institutions were in existence.

The Manuscript Division was a ‘treasure-house for Canadian historical research,’ which ‘lifts the Public Archives beyond the limitations o f a Public Records Office.’ The

Canada, Royal Commission on Government Organization, Report, vol. 1 pp. 562, 566.

Ibid., pp. 494, 567-71. Apparently the Commission also intended to recommend a public records act, but this did not end up in the final report. Writing to Archer to thank him for his work. Project Director Tyson wrote that T was disappointed that they did not spell out a public records act.’ T.F. Tyson to Archer, 19 November 1962, John Archer Papers, University o f Regina Archives, vol. 75-14.

Commission encouraged the Archives to expand, not reduce, the acquisition o f private records, especially the records o f Canadian businesses and film, broadcast, and sound recordings. Such acquisition would require additional resources, but it was a worthwhile public expense.

A national institution can hardly be expected to assume in totality the inherent responsibility o f private enterprise. However, the national interest does require if the economic history o f the nation is to be preserved, that the responsibility must be assumed on the national level if private industry is not prepared to do so.

The Commission made a number o f administrative recommendations for the Public Archives. It suggested that the Archives’ library holdings could be transferred to the National Library. However, the map collection should remain with the Archives, although the Commission acknowledged that this opened the door to duplication among different governmental agencies. There was concern that the work o f the Picture Division could conflict with other national institutions, such as the National Gallery and the National Museum, but this problem could be overcome. After all, the Commission argued, actual custody was unimportant, ‘providing there is considerable flexibility in inter-institution lending policies.’ Publication o f scholarly research works should not be the Archives’ responsibility, but the Archives did have a responsibility to publish ‘carefully selected and competently edited’ documents. The acquisition and copying work still going on in London and Paris was ‘an invaluable national service’ which should continue. On the other hand, the Laurier House Museum would be better placed with another agency, such as the new Canadian Historical Museum, along with the Archives’ numismatic and philatelic collections. The historical sections and archives housed in other government departments, such as those o f the Armed Forces, Department o f External Affairs, and Indian Affairs, should be reviewed with a view to transferring their records to the Public Archives.^^

Canada, Royal Commission on Government Organization, Report, vol. 1 pp. 574-83. C.P. Stacey objected strenuously to the suggestion that work at the Department o f National Defence was not praised more highly in the Commission’s report. He wrote a rebuttal to the report and protested the plan to transfer materials out o f the offices of the Department o f National Defence. See Archer Papers, vol. 75-14.

Libraries and Information Systems

As well as considering the Archives, the Commission examined the role o f libraries in the administration o f government. It argued that libraries were ‘an essential service’ for public administration.^^ The Commission was critical o f the lack o f recognition given to librarians as professionals in the public service. It recommended clarification o f the purpose and nature o f libraries, a review o f salary scales, and more stringent entry qualifications for new employees. The Commission felt that joint administration o f the National Library and Public Archives had worked well in the past, but it should not continue. There had been ‘unprecedented’ development in the fields o f librarianship and archives which meant that each institution needed to manage its own mandates, staff, and resources.

The Commission also considered the use o f ‘automatic data processing’ by government. The first computers had been programmed calculators, devised in the 1930s; by the 1960s a variety o f computer technologies were appearing in government departments.^^ They were used almost exclusively for the management o f statistical information rather than for word processing or financial management. As a result o f the interest in computers, there had been a 375 per cent increase in data processing in government in nine years.^^

To manage these automated systems, the government had established an Interdepartmental Committee on Electronic Computers to coordinate the selection and training o f personnel, to advise on computer installations, and to eliminate duplication and overlap in equipment purchases. According to the Glassco Commission, this

Canada, Royal Commission on Government Organization, Report, vol. 1, pp. 561.

For a detailed discussion o f the origins and use o f computers in bureaucracies, see J.R. Beniger,

The Control Revolution: Technological and Economic Origins o f the Information Society

(Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1986). The origin of computers is discussed throughout, including on pp. 403-9. For a discussion o f archival work with automation, see also T.E. Brown, ‘The Evolution o f an Appraisal Theory for Automated Records,’ Archival Informatics Newsletter 1, 3 (Fall 1987). For a contemporary review, see J.T. Marshall, ‘The Application of Computers in the Government of Canada,’ Canadian Public Administration 6 ,2 (June 1963): 148- 55.

Committee was essentially ineffective. It had not provided leadership and had not produced comprehensive policies or plans. Other government agencies advising on automation, such as the Management Analysis Division o f the Civil Service Commission, were equally ineffective. As a result, departments often proceeded on their own initiative, and computer systems had been installed throughout government with minimal planning or co-ordination. The Commission recommended the establishment o f an Administrative Improvement Division. It would advise on procedures throughout the civil service, including the use o f data processing systems, and would authorise equipment purchases and co-ordinate the use o f various technologies. The Commission warned against excessive reliance on new technologies. Computers were ‘servants, not masters’; any use o f them must be based on a sound cost-benefit analysis.^^